What’s new in Opcenter APS 2504

By Axel Regnet

Welcome to the latest update for Opcenter™ Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) – version 2504! This release brings a range of new features and enhancements designed to streamline your planning and scheduling processes, boost security, and improve overall usability. Read on to discover what’s new in Opcenter APS 2504 and how these updates can help your manufacturing operations stay ahead.

Highlight features in this release

Validation Dashboard
OpenID Connect Authentication Support
Improved Unattended Console Support
Enhanced OData Import Queries
Improved License Settings Dialog
Usability Improvements

Validation Dashboard

The new Validation Dashboard is a major upgrade over the previous ‘Validate Schedule’ command. This dashboard provides a comprehensive view of all validation errors in your schedules, making it easier to identify and resolve issues before they impact production.

Key capabilities:

Validate schedules with a single click using the Validate Schedule button.
Instantly see a complete list of validation errors.
Clicking on an error highlights the affected operations, helping you quickly pinpoint and address issues.
Powerful search, grouping, and sorting options for error messages.
Customizable dashboard layout, including the ability to hide fields and group messages by criteria that matter to you.

OpenID Connect Authentication Support

Security and flexibility are top priorities in modern manufacturing environments. Opcenter APS 2504 now supports authentication via OpenID Connect (OIDC), enabling seamless integration with third-party identity providers.

What’s new:

OIDC support allows organizations to leverage their existing authentication solutions for user management and role assignment.
All user roles managed in your identity provider must also be configured in Opcenter APS for full workflow integration.
Successful activation requires administrative credentials within both the identity provider and Opcenter APS.
Customers may need to adjust post-login behavior to ensure proper role mapping.

Improved Unattended Console Support

The Unattended Console is now more powerful and flexible, supporting new options for automated scheduling scenarios.

Enhancements include:

Set scheduling and time accuracy directly via command-line options (e.g., -sa “{JTIME@(1/24)}” for one hour accuracy).
Unlock scheduling history or repair schedules with simple command-line switches (unlockhistory or repairschedule).
These improvements make it easier to automate complex scheduling tasks and maintain schedule integrity in unattended environments.

Enhanced OData Import Queries

Data import is now more flexible and multilingual, thanks to several OData improvements.

Key updates:

Import filtered data by passing dynamic tags (such as site or country) within a single OData connection string.
Define multiple tags and their values in the Command Definition File (prcdf), using them in the Override Query field for precise data imports.
Opcenter APS now supports the Accept-Language header, enabling data import in the default language or a language of your choice (provided the OData source is configured accordingly.

Improved License Settings Dialog

Managing licenses is now more intuitive and error-proof.

What has changed:

The Connect button is disabled if there are errors in the license settings dialog, preventing invalid configurations.
Error icons provide clear visual feedback for any issues.
The Save Settings checkbox now saves license settings only after a successful connection, streamlining the workflow and ensuring only valid configurations are stored.

Usability Improvements

Several user experience enhancements have been introduced to make daily tasks faster and more convenient.

Highlights:

Editors in both Planner and Sequencer now feature a “clear all filter” icon, allowing you to remove all applied filters with a single click.

The resource list in the calendar editor dialog is now sorted in alignment with the default resource sorting, making it easier to find and manage resources.

Get Started with Opcenter APS 2504

Opcenter APS 2504 continues Siemens’ commitment to delivering powerful, flexible, and user-friendly planning and scheduling solutions. Whether you need advanced schedule validation, enhanced security, or streamlined data import, this release has you covered.

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Want to learn more? Opcenter APS products can be used for long-term strategic planning covering months and years, medium-term tactical planning with a few weeks planning horizon and for detailed sequencing and scheduling. Opcenter APS can be installed out of the box and can be customized and configured where necessary.

Learn more about the updates in this video: See Opcenter APS 2504 in action

Additional Information

Want more info on Green Scheduling? Read our White Paper

Supply chain management planning – challenges and opportunities

Supply chain disruptions are incredibly stressful for manufacturers. Without visibility into all levels of the supply chain, production planning can be difficult and disjointed. There are so many complexities and dependencies that need to be balanced. That is where supply chain management planning becomes crucial, and an advanced planning and scheduling (APS) solution can help manufacturers stay in control.